The Pantry Raiders | Turn dinner time into family time

From our short winter comes the hunger for spring and salads. Salads are easy, healthy and refreshing for the whole family to enjoy. We eat salads a lot — and we never have the same salad twice. We like to mix it up and enjoy ingredients that each family member fancies as well. Then we build our salad together.

While we bond over how the spelling test went, who at pre-school misbehaved or how many goals were scored at practice, we participate in many jobs. Our children love to take turns spinning the lettuce dry. If you haven’t invested in a salad spinner, you must.

From rinsing the vegetables and fruit to draining the olives and shredding the cheese, there are so many ways to indulge in some family time — all while creating a different salad each time.

If you love shrimp, you will really enjoy this Asian inspired salad. Filled with healthy vegetables, this is a colorful one. Our go-to for seafood is always The Fisherman’s Dock and conveniently, because we love to pair our salads with bread once in awhile, The French Pantry focaccia is always available at the dock too.

Directions: First, place shrimp in a bowl and mix all ingredients together and pour over shrimp. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. Next, line marinated shrimp together in a unified line and season extremely lightly with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Broil on low for four minutes, flip over and proceed to cook for another four minutes or until done. Be careful to not overcook the shrimp. Remove from the oven and let shrimp rest.

Directions: Rinse lettuce and dry. Slice cucumber to preference. Rinse and peel carrots then slice or shave with a cheese grader, again to preference. Rinse off tomatoes and chop. Wipe mushrooms with a damp paper towel and slice. Rinse avocado, open and knife vertically and then spoon out.